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Seixas L, Barão KR, Lopes R, Serafim D, Demetrio GR. Is urbanization a driver of aboveground biomass allocation in a widespread tropical shrub, Turnera subulata (Turneroideae - Passifloraceae)? JOURNAL OF PLANT RESEARCH 2024:10.1007/s10265-024-01560-1. [PMID: 39014142 DOI: 10.1007/s10265-024-01560-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2023] [Accepted: 06/19/2024] [Indexed: 07/18/2024]
Abstract
Plant biomass allocation is mainly affected by the environment where each individual grows. In this sense, through the rapid global expansion of impermeable areas, urbanization has strong, albeit poorly understood, consequences on the biomass allocation of plants found in this environment. Nevertheless, the comprehension of biomass allocation processes in urban shrubs remains unclear, because most studies of urban ecology focus on tree species. This is an important gap of knowledge because a great part of urban vegetation is composed of shrubs and their association with trees have positive impacts in urban ecosystem services. In this study, we explored the ecological and potential selective pressure effects of an urbanization gradient on the biomass allocation patterns of aboveground organs of Turnera subulata, a widely distributed tropical shrub. We have demonstrated that, for certain reproductive organs, biomass allocation decreases in locations with higher urbanization. Unlike expected, the biomass of vegetative organs was not affected by urbanization, and we did not observe any effect of urbanization intensity on the variance in biomass allocation to vegetative and reproductive organs. We did not record urbanization-mediated trade-offs in biomass allocation for reproductive and vegetative organs. Instead, the biomass of these structures showed a positive relationship. Our data suggest that urbanization does not result in radical changes in biomass allocation of T. subulata, and neither in the variation of these traits. They indicate that the ability of T. subulata to thrive in urban environments may be associated with life history and morphological mechanisms. Our findings contribute to the understanding of shrub plant responses to urbanization and highlight urbanization as a potential factor in resource allocation differences for different structures and functions in plants living in these environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- L Seixas
- Graduate Program in Ecology (PPG-Ecology), State University of Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil
- Plant Ecology Laboratory, Penedo Educational Unit, Federal University of Alagoas, Penedo, AL, Brazil
| | - K R Barão
- Graduate Program of Biological Diversity and Conservation in the Tropics (PPG DIBICT), Federal University of Alagoas, Maceió, AL, Brazil
- Laboratory of Systematics and Diversity of Arthropods, Penedo Educational Unit, Federal University of Alagoas, Penedo, AL, Brazil
| | - Rvr Lopes
- Plant Ecology Laboratory, Penedo Educational Unit, Federal University of Alagoas, Penedo, AL, Brazil
- Graduate Program of Biological Diversity and Conservation in the Tropics (PPG DIBICT), Federal University of Alagoas, Maceió, AL, Brazil
| | - D Serafim
- Plant Ecology Laboratory, Penedo Educational Unit, Federal University of Alagoas, Penedo, AL, Brazil
- Graduate Program of Biological Diversity and Conservation in the Tropics (PPG DIBICT), Federal University of Alagoas, Maceió, AL, Brazil
| | - Guilherme Ramos Demetrio
- Plant Ecology Laboratory, Penedo Educational Unit, Federal University of Alagoas, Penedo, AL, Brazil.
- Graduate Program of Biological Diversity and Conservation in the Tropics (PPG DIBICT), Federal University of Alagoas, Maceió, AL, Brazil.
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2
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Lamberson AM, Smith JA. Supplementary feeding of birds during the winter influences measures of avian community structure in yards in a subtropical city. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0302007. [PMID: 38776305 PMCID: PMC11111068 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0302007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2023] [Accepted: 03/26/2024] [Indexed: 05/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Supplementary feeding, the intentional provision of food to wild birds is a common activity in developed nations during the winter. The energy inputs represented by supplementary feeding are vast, and thus it is likely an important mechanism shaping bird communities in urban areas. However, research in this regard has mainly occurred in temperate and non-urban settings. Moreover, few studies have been informed by supplementary feeding habits of local community members limiting their inference. We evaluated the effects of two commonly provided wild bird foods on the abundance and species diversity of birds in yards over two winters in San Antonio, Texas, United States, a city located in a subtropical region. We used a reversed Before-After-Control-Impact experimental design in which yards were randomly allocated either mixed seed, Nyjer, or no food (control) between November 2019 and March 2020 (Year One). Between November 2020 and March 2021 (Year Two) supplementary food was not provided in any yards. Point counts conducted during both years of the study revealed that overall bird abundance was consistent between years in control yards and yards provided with Nyjer. In contrast, overall bird abundance was statistically significantly higher when supplementary food was present in mixed seed yards, driven by an increase in granivorous and omnivorous species. In contrast, supplementary feeding had no statistically significant effect on the abundance of insectivorous species or on species diversity, although species diversity tended to be higher in the presence of mixed seed. Our study demonstrates that wild bird food commonly provided by community members influences measures of avian community structure during the winter in urban yards in a subtropical city. However, these results depend on the type of bird food provided. Our results provide insight into the processes underlying the effects of urbanization on bird communities, and thus have implications for the management of urban birds more broadly.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda M. Lamberson
- Department of Integrative Biology, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, United States of America
| | - Jennifer A. Smith
- Department of Integrative Biology, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, United States of America
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3
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Fidino M, Sander HA, Lewis JS, Lehrer EW, Rivera K, Murray MH, Adams HC, Kase A, Flores A, Stankowich T, Schell CJ, Salsbury CM, Rohnke AT, Jordan MJ, Green AM, R. Gramza A, Zellmer AJ, Williamson J, Surasinghe TD, Storm H, Sparks KL, Ryan TJ, Remine KR, Pendergast ME, Mullen K, Minier DE, Middaugh CR, Mertl AL, McClung MR, Long RA, Larson RN, Kohl MT, Harris LR, Hall CT, Haight JD, Drake D, Davidge AM, Cheek AO, Bloch CP, Biro EG, Anthonysamy WJB, Angstmann JL, Allen ML, Adalsteinsson SA, Short Gianotti AG, LaMontagne JM, Gelmi-Candusso TA, Magle SB. Gentrification drives patterns of alpha and beta diversity in cities. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2318596121. [PMID: 38621142 PMCID: PMC11047091 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2318596121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2023] [Accepted: 01/30/2024] [Indexed: 04/17/2024] Open
Abstract
While there is increasing recognition that social processes in cities like gentrification have ecological consequences, we lack nuanced understanding of the ways gentrification affects urban biodiversity. We analyzed a large camera trap dataset of mammals (>500 g) to evaluate how gentrification impacts species richness and community composition across 23 US cities. After controlling for the negative effect of impervious cover, gentrified parts of cities had the highest mammal species richness. Change in community composition was associated with gentrification in a few cities, which were mostly located along the West Coast. At the species level, roughly half (11 of 21 mammals) had higher occupancy in gentrified parts of a city, especially when impervious cover was low. Our results indicate that the impacts of gentrification extend to nonhuman animals, which provides further evidence that some aspects of nature in cities, such as wildlife, are chronically inaccessible to marginalized human populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mason Fidino
- Conservation and Science Department, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, IL60614
| | - Heather A. Sander
- Department of Geographical and Sustainability Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA52242
| | - Jesse S. Lewis
- College of Integrative Sciences and Arts, Arizona State University, Mesa, AZ85287
| | | | - Kimberly Rivera
- Conservation and Science Department, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, IL60614
| | - Maureen H. Murray
- Conservation and Science Department, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, IL60614
| | - Henry C. Adams
- Conservation and Science Department, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, IL60614
| | - Anna Kase
- Conservation and Science Department, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, IL60614
| | - Andrea Flores
- Conservation and Science Department, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, IL60614
| | - Theodore Stankowich
- Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, Long Beach, CA90840
| | - Christopher J. Schell
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA94720
| | - Carmen M. Salsbury
- Department of Biological Sciences, Butler University, Indianapolis, IN46208
| | - Adam T. Rohnke
- Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Aquaculture, Mississippi State University, Jackson, MS39759
| | - Mark J. Jordan
- Department of Biology, Seattle University, Seattle, WA98112
| | - Austin M. Green
- Science Research Initiative, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT84112
| | | | - Amanda J. Zellmer
- Department of Biology, Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA90042
- Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy, Pasadena, CA91102
| | | | - Thilina D. Surasinghe
- Department of Biological Sciences, Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, MA02325
| | - Hunter Storm
- University Honors College, Portland State University, Portland, OR97201
| | - Kimberly L. Sparks
- Research Division, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Little Rock, AR72205
| | - Travis J. Ryan
- Department of Biological Sciences, Butler University, Indianapolis, IN46208
| | - Katie R. Remine
- Wildlife Conservation Division, Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle, WA98103
| | | | - Kayleigh Mullen
- Conservation Department, Utah’s Hogle Zoo, Salt Lake City, UT84108
| | | | | | - Amy L. Mertl
- Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Lesley University, Cambridge, MA02138
| | | | - Robert A. Long
- Wildlife Conservation Division, Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle, WA98103
| | - Rachel N. Larson
- Department of Geographical and Sustainability Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA52242
| | - Michel T. Kohl
- Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, GA30602
| | - Lavendar R. Harris
- Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, GA30602
| | - Courtney T. Hall
- Conservation Operations Department, Memorial Park Conservancy, Houston, TX77007
| | | | - David Drake
- Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI53706
| | - Alyssa M. Davidge
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Colorado, Denver, CO80204
| | - Ann O. Cheek
- Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, Houston, TX77004
| | - Christopher P. Bloch
- Department of Biological Sciences, Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, MA02325
| | - Elizabeth G. Biro
- Tyson Research Center, Washington University in St. Louis, Eureka, MO63025
| | | | - Julia L. Angstmann
- Center for Urban Ecology and Sustainability, Butler University, Indianapolis, IN42608
| | - Maximilian L. Allen
- Illinois Natural History Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL61820
| | | | | | - Jalene M. LaMontagne
- Conservation and Science Department, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, IL60614
- Department of Biological Sciences, DePaul University, Chicago, IL60614
| | | | - Seth B. Magle
- Conservation and Science Department, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, IL60614
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4
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Bouilloud M, Galan M, Pradel J, Loiseau A, Ferrero J, Gallet R, Roche B, Charbonnel N. Exploring the potential effects of forest urbanization on the interplay between small mammal communities and their gut microbiota. Anim Microbiome 2024; 6:16. [PMID: 38528597 DOI: 10.1186/s42523-024-00301-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2024] [Accepted: 03/06/2024] [Indexed: 03/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Urbanization significantly impacts wild populations, favoring urban dweller species over those that are unable to adapt to rapid changes. These differential adaptative abilities could be mediated by the microbiome, which may modulate the host phenotype rapidly through a high degree of flexibility. Conversely, under anthropic perturbations, the microbiota of some species could be disrupted, resulting in dysbiosis and negative impacts on host fitness. The links between the impact of urbanization on host communities and their gut microbiota (GM) have only been scarcely explored. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the bacterial composition of the GM could play a role in host adaptation to urban environments. We described the GM of several species of small terrestrial mammals sampled in forested areas along a gradient of urbanization, using a 16S metabarcoding approach. We tested whether urbanization led to changes in small mammal communities and in their GM, considering the presence and abundance of bacterial taxa and their putative functions. This enabled to decipher the processes underlying these changes. We found potential impacts of urbanization on small mammal communities and their GM. The urban dweller species had a lower bacterial taxonomic diversity but a higher functional diversity and a different composition compared to urban adapter species. Their GM assembly was mostly governed by stochastic effects, potentially indicating dysbiosis. Selection processes and an overabundance of functions were detected that could be associated with adaptation to urban environments despite dysbiosis. In urban adapter species, the GM functional diversity and composition remained relatively stable along the urbanization gradient. This observation can be explained by functional redundancy, where certain taxa express the same function. This could favor the adaptation of urban adapter species in various environments, including urban settings. We can therefore assume that there are feedbacks between the gut microbiota and host species within communities, enabling rapid adaptation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie Bouilloud
- CBGP, IRD, CIRAD, INRAE, Institut Agro, Univ Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
- Centre de Biologie pour la Gestion des Populations, 750 Avenue Agropolis, 34988, Montferrier sur Lez, France.
| | - Maxime Galan
- CBGP, IRD, CIRAD, INRAE, Institut Agro, Univ Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Julien Pradel
- CBGP, IRD, CIRAD, INRAE, Institut Agro, Univ Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Anne Loiseau
- CBGP, IRD, CIRAD, INRAE, Institut Agro, Univ Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Julien Ferrero
- CBGP, IRD, CIRAD, INRAE, Institut Agro, Univ Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Romain Gallet
- CBGP, IRD, CIRAD, INRAE, Institut Agro, Univ Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Benjamin Roche
- MIVEGEC, IRD, CNRS, Univ Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Nathalie Charbonnel
- CBGP, IRD, CIRAD, INRAE, Institut Agro, Univ Montpellier, Montpellier, France
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5
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Franco-Belussi L, de Oliveira Júnior JG, Goldberg J, De Oliveira C, Fernandes CE, Provete DB. Multiple morphophysiological responses of a tropical frog to urbanization conform to the pace-of-life syndrome. CONSERVATION PHYSIOLOGY 2024; 12:coad106. [PMID: 38293639 PMCID: PMC10823355 DOI: 10.1093/conphys/coad106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2023] [Revised: 11/23/2023] [Accepted: 12/11/2023] [Indexed: 02/01/2024]
Abstract
The Pace-of-Life syndrome proposes that behavioural, physiological and immune characteristics vary along a slow-fast gradient. Urbanization poses several physiological challenges to organisms. However, little is known about how the health status of frogs is affected by urbanization in the Tropics, which have a faster and more recent urbanization than the northern hemisphere. Here, we analysed a suite of physiological variables that reflect whole organism health, reproduction, metabolic and circulatory physiology and leukocyte responses in Leptodactylus podicipinus. Specifically, we tested how leukocyte profile, erythrocyte morphometrics and germ cell density, as well as somatic indices and erythrocyte nuclear abnormalities differ throughout the adult life span between urban and rural populations. We used Phenotypic Trajectory Analysis to test the effect of age and site on each of the multivariate data sets; and a Generalised Linear Model to test the effect of site and age on nuclear abnormalities. Somatic indices, erythrocyte nuclear abnormalities, erythrocyte morphometrics and leukocyte profile differed between populations, but less so for germ cell density. We found a large effect of site on nuclear abnormalities, with urban frogs having twice as many abnormalities as rural frogs. Our results suggest that urban frogs have a faster pace of life, but the response of phenotypic compartments is not fully concerted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lilian Franco-Belussi
- Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas de São José do Rio Preto, São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo, 15054-000, Brazil
- Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, 79002970, Brazil
| | - José Gonçalves de Oliveira Júnior
- Graduate Program in Animal Biology, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil
| | - Javier Goldberg
- Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal - CONICET; Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina
| | - Classius De Oliveira
- Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas de São José do Rio Preto, São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo, 15054-000, Brazil
| | - Carlos E Fernandes
- Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, 79002970, Brazil
| | - Diogo B Provete
- Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, 79002970, Brazil
- Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Göteborg, Box 100, S 405 30, Sweden
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6
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Srivastava DS, Harris N, Páez N, Rogy P, Westwood NE, Sandoval-Acuña P, Seetharaman K. Insects in the city: Determinants of a contained aquatic microecosystem across an urbanized landscape. Ecology 2024; 105:e4204. [PMID: 37926440 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.4204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2023] [Revised: 04/24/2023] [Accepted: 05/31/2023] [Indexed: 11/07/2023]
Abstract
Cities can have profound impacts on ecosystems, yet our understanding of these impacts is currently limited. First, the effects of the socioeconomic dimensions of human society are often overlooked. Second, correlative analyses are common, limiting our causal understanding of mechanisms. Third, most research has focused on terrestrial systems, ignoring aquatic systems that also provide important ecosystem services. Here we compare the effects of human population density and low-income prevalence on the macroinvertebrate communities and ecosystem processes within water-filled artificial tree holes. We hypothesized that these human demographic variables would affect tree holes in different ways via changes in temperature, water nutrients, and the local tree hole environment. We recruited community scientists across Greater Vancouver (Canada) to provide host trees and tend 50 tree holes over 14 weeks of colonization. We quantified tree hole ecosystems in terms of aquatic invertebrates, litter decomposition, and chlorophyll a (chl a). We compiled potential explanatory variables from field measurements, satellite images, or census databases. Using structural equation models, we showed that invertebrate abundance was affected by low-income prevalence but not human population density. This was driven by cosmopolitan species of Ceratopogonidae (Diptera) with known associations to anthropogenic containers. Invertebrate diversity and abundance were also affected by environmental factors, such as temperature, elevation, water nutrients, litter quantity, and exposure. By contrast, invertebrate biomass, chl a, and litter decomposition were not affected by any measured variables. In summary, this study shows that some urban ecosystems can be largely unaffected by human population density. Our study also demonstrates the potential of using artificial tree holes as a standardized, replicated habitat for studying urbanization. Finally, by combining community science and urban ecology, we were able to involve our local community in this pandemic research pivot.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diane S Srivastava
- Biodiversity Research Centre and Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Noam Harris
- Biodiversity Research Centre and Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Nadia Páez
- Biodiversity Research Centre and Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Pierre Rogy
- Biodiversity Research Centre and Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Natalie Elena Westwood
- Biodiversity Research Centre and Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Pablo Sandoval-Acuña
- Biodiversity Research Centre and Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Keerthikrutha Seetharaman
- Biodiversity Research Centre and Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- Department of Biology, University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
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7
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Breitbart ST, Agrawal AA, Wagner HH, Johnson MTJ. Urbanization and a green corridor do not impact genetic divergence in common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca L.). Sci Rep 2023; 13:20437. [PMID: 37993590 PMCID: PMC10665382 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-47524-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2023] [Accepted: 11/14/2023] [Indexed: 11/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Urbanization is altering landscapes globally at an unprecedented rate. While ecological differences between urban and rural environments often promote phenotypic divergence among populations, it is unclear to what degree these trait differences arise from genetic divergence as opposed to phenotypic plasticity. Furthermore, little is known about how specific landscape elements, such as green corridors, impact genetic divergence in urban environments. We tested the hypotheses that: (1) urbanization, and (2) proximity to an urban green corridor influence genetic divergence in common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) populations for phenotypic traits. Using seeds from 52 populations along three urban-to-rural subtransects in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada, one of which followed a green corridor, we grew ~ 1000 plants in a common garden setup and measured > 20 ecologically-important traits associated with plant defense/damage, reproduction, and growth over four years. We found significant heritable variation for nine traits within common milkweed populations and weak phenotypic divergence among populations. However, neither urbanization nor an urban green corridor influenced genetic divergence in individual traits or multivariate phenotype. These findings contrast with the expanding literature demonstrating that urbanization promotes rapid evolutionary change and offer preliminary insights into the eco-evolutionary role of green corridors in urban environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophie T Breitbart
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3B2, Canada.
- Department of Biology, University of Toronto Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, ON, L5L 1C6, Canada.
- Centre for Urban Environments, University of Toronto Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, ON, L5L 1C6, Canada.
| | - Anurag A Agrawal
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, E145 Corson Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
- Department of Entomology, Cornell University, 2126 Comstock Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
| | - Helene H Wagner
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3B2, Canada
- Department of Biology, University of Toronto Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, ON, L5L 1C6, Canada
- Centre for Urban Environments, University of Toronto Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, ON, L5L 1C6, Canada
| | - Marc T J Johnson
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3B2, Canada
- Department of Biology, University of Toronto Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, ON, L5L 1C6, Canada
- Centre for Urban Environments, University of Toronto Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, ON, L5L 1C6, Canada
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8
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Haight JD, Hall SJ, Fidino M, Adalsteinsson SA, Ahlers AA, Angstmann J, Anthonysamy WJB, Biro E, Collins MK, Dugelby B, Gallo T, Green AM, Hartley L, Jordan MJ, Kay CAM, Lehrer EW, Long RA, MacDougall B, Magle SB, Minier DE, Mowry C, Murray M, Nininger K, Pendergast ME, Remine KR, Ryan T, Salsbury C, Sander HA, Schell CJ, Șekercioğlu ÇH, Shier CJ, Simon KC, St Clair CC, Stankowich T, Stevenson CJ, Wayne L, Will D, Williamson J, Wilson L, Zellmer AJ, Lewis JS. Urbanization, climate and species traits shape mammal communities from local to continental scales. Nat Ecol Evol 2023; 7:1654-1666. [PMID: 37667002 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-02166-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2023] [Accepted: 07/17/2023] [Indexed: 09/06/2023]
Abstract
Human-driven environmental changes shape ecological communities from local to global scales. Within cities, landscape-scale patterns and processes and species characteristics generally drive local-scale wildlife diversity. However, cities differ in their structure, species pools, geographies and histories, calling into question the extent to which these drivers of wildlife diversity are predictive at continental scales. In partnership with the Urban Wildlife Information Network, we used occurrence data from 725 sites located across 20 North American cities and a multi-city, multi-species occupancy modelling approach to evaluate the effects of ecoregional characteristics and mammal species traits on the urbanization-diversity relationship. Among 37 native terrestrial mammal species, regional environmental characteristics and species traits influenced within-city effects of urbanization on species occupancy and community composition. Species occupancy and diversity were most negatively related to urbanization in the warmer, less vegetated cities. Additionally, larger-bodied species were most negatively impacted by urbanization across North America. Our results suggest that shifting climate conditions could worsen the effects of urbanization on native wildlife communities, such that conservation strategies should seek to mitigate the combined effects of a warming and urbanizing world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeffrey D Haight
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
| | - Sharon J Hall
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Mason Fidino
- Urban Wildlife Institute, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, IL, USA
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Austin M Green
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | | | | | - Cria A M Kay
- Urban Wildlife Institute, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, IL, USA
| | | | | | | | - Seth B Magle
- Urban Wildlife Institute, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, IL, USA
| | | | | | - Maureen Murray
- Urban Wildlife Institute, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, IL, USA
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Çagan H Șekercioğlu
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
- Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Koç University, Istanbul, Türkiye
| | | | - Kelly C Simon
- Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Austin, TX, USA
| | | | | | | | - Lisa Wayne
- San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | | | | | | | - Amanda J Zellmer
- Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Jesse S Lewis
- College of Integrative Sciences and Arts, Arizona State University, Mesa, AZ, USA
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9
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Diamond SE, Bellino G, Deme GG. Urban insect bioarks of the 21st century. CURRENT OPINION IN INSECT SCIENCE 2023; 57:101028. [PMID: 37024047 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2023.101028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2023] [Revised: 03/26/2023] [Accepted: 03/30/2023] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
Insects exhibit divergent biodiversity responses to cities. Many urban populations are not at equilibrium: biodiversity decline or recovery from environmental perturbation is often still in progress. Substantial variation in urban biodiversity patterns suggests the need to understand its mechanistic basis. In addition, current urban infrastructure decisions might profoundly influence future biodiversity trends. Although many nature-based solutions to urban climate problems also support urban insect biodiversity, trade-offs are possible and should be avoided to maximize biodiversity-climate cobenefits. Because insects are coping with the dual threats of urbanization and climate change, there is an urgent need to design cities that facilitate persistence within the city footprint or facilitate compensatory responses to global climate change as species transit through the city footprint.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah E Diamond
- Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
| | - Grace Bellino
- Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA
| | - Gideon G Deme
- Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA
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10
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Piano E, Bonte D, De Meester L, Hendrickx F. Dispersal capacity underlies scale-dependent changes in species richness patterns under human disturbance. Ecology 2023; 104:e3946. [PMID: 36479697 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3946] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2022] [Revised: 07/12/2022] [Accepted: 10/25/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Changes in the species richness of (meta-)communities emerge from changes in the relative species abundance distribution (SAD), the total density of individuals, and the amount of spatial aggregation of individuals from the same species. Yet, how human disturbance affects these underlying diversity components at different spatial scales and how this interacts with important species traits, like dispersal capacity, remain poorly understood. Using data of carabid beetle communities along a highly replicated urbanization gradient, we reveal that species richness in urban sites was reduced due to a decline in individual density as well as changes in the SAD at both small and large spatial scales. Changes in these components of species richness were linked to differential responses of groups of species that differ in dispersal capacity. The individual density effect on species richness was due to a drastic 90% reduction of low-dispersal individuals in more urban sites. Conversely, the decrease in species richness due to changes in the SAD at large (i.e., loss of species from the regional pool) and small (i.e., decreased evenness) spatial scales were driven by species with intermediate and high dispersal ability, respectively. These patterns coincide with the expected responses of these dispersal-type assemblages toward human disturbance, namely, (i) loss of low-dispersal species by local extinction processes, (ii) loss of higher-dispersal species from the regional species pool due to decreased habitat diversity, and (iii) dominance of a few highly dispersive species resulting in a decreased evenness. Our results demonstrate that dispersal capacity plays an essential role in determining scale-dependent changes in species richness patterns. Incorporating this information improves our mechanistic insight into how environmental change affects species diversity at different spatial scales, allowing us to better forecast how human disturbance will drive local and regional changes in biodiversity patterns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena Piano
- Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium.,Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Dries Bonte
- Biology Department, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Luc De Meester
- Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Berlin, Germany.,Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.,Institute of Biology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Frederik Hendrickx
- Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium.,Biology Department, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
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11
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Salmón P, Burraco P. Telomeres and anthropogenic disturbances in wildlife: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Mol Ecol 2022; 31:6018-6039. [PMID: 35080073 PMCID: PMC9790527 DOI: 10.1111/mec.16370] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2021] [Revised: 12/10/2021] [Accepted: 01/13/2022] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
Human-driven environmental changes are affecting wildlife across the globe. These challenges do not influence species or populations to the same extent and therefore a comprehensive evaluation of organismal health is needed to determine their ultimate impact. Evidence suggests that telomeres (the terminal chromosomal regions) are sensitive to environmental conditions and have been posited as a surrogate for animal health and fitness. Evaluation of their use in an applied ecological context is still scarce. Here, using information from molecular and occupational biomedical studies, we aim to provide ecologists and evolutionary biologists with an accessible synthesis of the links between human disturbances and telomere length. In addition, we perform a systematic review and meta-analysis on studies measuring telomere length in wild/wild-derived animals facing anthropogenic disturbances. Despite the relatively small number of studies to date, our meta-analysis revealed a significant small negative association between disturbances and telomere length (-0.092 [-0.153, -0.031]; n = 28; k = 159). Yet, our systematic review suggests that the use of telomeres as a biomarker to understand the anthropogenic impact on wildlife is limited. We propose some research avenues that will help to broadly evaluate their suitability: (i) further causal studies on the link between human disturbances and telomeres; (ii) investigating the organismal implications, in terms of fitness and performance, of a given telomere length in anthropogenically disturbed scenarios; and (iii) better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of telomere dynamics. Future studies in these facets will help to ultimately determine their role as markers of health and fitness in wildlife facing anthropogenic disturbances.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pablo Salmón
- Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative MedicineUniversity of GlasgowGlasgowUK,Department of Plant Biology and EcologyFaculty of Science and TechnologyUniversity of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU)LeioaSpain
| | - Pablo Burraco
- Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative MedicineUniversity of GlasgowGlasgowUK
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12
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Fidino M, Lehrer EW, Kay CAM, Yarmey NT, Murray MH, Fake K, Adams HC, Magle SB. Integrated species distribution models reveal spatiotemporal patterns of human-wildlife conflict. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2022; 32:e2647. [PMID: 35535608 DOI: 10.1002/eap.2647] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2022] [Revised: 03/15/2022] [Accepted: 03/15/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
To mitigate human-wildlife conflict it is imperative to know where and when conflict occurs. However, standard methods used to predict the occurrence of human-wildlife conflict often fail to recognize how a species distribution likely limits where and when conflict may happen. As such, methods that predict human-wildlife conflict could be improved if they could identify where conflict will occur relative to species' underlying distribution. To this end, we used an integrated species distribution model that combined presence-only wildlife complaints with data from a systematic camera trapping survey throughout Chicago, Illinois. This model draws upon both data sources to estimate a latent distribution of species; in addition, the model can estimate where conflict is most likely to occur within that distribution. We modeled the occupancy and conflict potential of coyote (Canis latrans), Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana), and raccoon (Procyon lotor) as a function of urban intensity, per capita income, and home vacancy rates throughout Chicago. Overall, the distribution of each species constrained the spatiotemporal patterns of conflict throughout the city of Chicago. Within each species distribution, we found that human-wildlife conflict was most likely to occur where humans and wildlife habitat overlap (e.g., featuring higher-than-average canopy cover and housing density). Furthermore, human-wildlife conflict was most likely to occur in high-income neighborhoods for Virginia opossum and raccoon, despite the fact that those two species have higher occupancy in low-income neighborhoods. As such, knowing where species are distributed can inform guidelines on where wildlife management should be focused, especially if it overlaps with human habitats. Finally, because this integrated model can incorporate data that have already been collected by wildlife managers or city officials, this approach could be used to develop stronger collaborations with wildlife management agencies and conduct applied research that will inform landscape-scale wildlife management.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mason Fidino
- Conservation and Science Department, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | | | - Cria A M Kay
- Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
| | - Nicholas T Yarmey
- Prentice Institute for Global Population and Economy, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
| | | | - Kimberly Fake
- Conservation and Science Department, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Henry C Adams
- Conservation and Science Department, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Seth B Magle
- Conservation and Science Department, Chicago, Illinois, USA
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13
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Stanton LA, Bridge ES, Huizinga J, Benson-Amram S. Environmental, individual and social traits of free-ranging raccoons influence performance in cognitive testing. J Exp Biol 2022; 225:276535. [PMID: 36137301 PMCID: PMC9637273 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.243726] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2021] [Accepted: 07/08/2022] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
Cognitive abilities, such as learning and flexibility, are hypothesized to aid behavioral adaptation to urbanization. Although growing evidence suggests that cognition may indeed facilitate persistence in urban environments, we currently lack knowledge of the cognitive abilities of many urban taxa. Recent methodological advances, including radio frequency identification (RFID), have extended automated cognitive testing into the field but have yet to be applied to a diversity of taxa. Here, we used an RFID-enabled operant conditioning device to assess the habituation, learning and cognitive flexibility of a wild population of raccoons (Procyon lotor). We examined how several biological and behavioral traits influenced participation and performance in testing. We then compared the cognitive performance of wild raccoons tested in natural conditions with that of wild-caught raccoons tested in captivity from a previous study. In natural conditions, juvenile raccoons were more likely to habituate to the testing device, but performed worse in serial reversal learning, compared with adults. We also found that docile raccoons were more likely to learn how to operate the device in natural conditions, which suggests a relationship between emotional reactivity and cognitive ability in raccoons. Although raccoons in both captive and natural conditions demonstrated rapid associative learning and flexibility, raccoons in captive conditions generally performed better, likely owing to the heightened vigilance and social interference experienced by raccoons in natural conditions. Our results have important implications for future research on urban carnivores and cognition in field settings, as well as our understanding of behavioral adaptation to urbanization and coexistence with urban wildlife.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren A Stanton
- Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA.,Program in Ecology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA
| | - Eli S Bridge
- Oklahoma Biological Survey, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, USA
| | | | - Sarah Benson-Amram
- Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA.,Program in Ecology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA
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14
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Thaweepworadej P, Evans KL. Avian species richness and tropical urbanization gradients: Effects of woodland retention and human disturbance. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2022; 32:e2586. [PMID: 35333421 PMCID: PMC9541691 DOI: 10.1002/eap.2586] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2021] [Revised: 11/10/2021] [Accepted: 12/29/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Urbanization is a major driver of tropical biodiversity loss. In temperate regions avian species richness-urbanization intensity relationships typically exhibit unimodal patterns, with peak richness at intermediate urbanization levels. In tropical regions, the form of such relationships and the extent to which they are moderated by patches of seminatural habitat are unclear. We address these questions in Bangkok, Thailand (one of the largest and most rapidly expanding tropical mega-cities) and generate conservation recommendations for tropical biodiversity in urban locations. We use repeated point count surveys at a random location, and the largest available woodland patch, in 150 1 km × 1 km grid cells selected along the urbanization gradient. Woodland patches support higher species richness compared with randomized locations (except for non-natives), and avian species richness declines linearly with increasing urbanization. The contrast with unimodal patterns in temperate regions is probably driven by divergent patterns of habitat heterogeneity along tropical and temperate urbanization gradients. Moreover, we provide novel evidence that retaining patches of urban woodland moderates adverse impacts of urbanization on avian species richness. For most species groups, the benefits of woodland increase as urbanization intensifies, despite such woodland patches being very small (mean of 0.38 ha). Avian species richness in woodland patches is maximized, and community composition less similar to that in randomized locations, when woodland patches are larger and visited by fewer people. Assemblages of forest-dependent species (which provide additional ecological functions) have higher richness, and are less similar to those in randomized locations, in patches of woodland with higher tree species richness and biomass. Finally, species richness in randomized sites is greatest when they are closer to woodland patches, and such assemblages more closely resemble those of woodland sites. Our work highlights four strategies for tropical urban bird conservation: (1) conserving woodland patches across the urbanization gradient regardless of patch size, (2) improving the quality of existing woodland by increasing tree biomass and diversity, (3) creating additional woodland that is well distributed throughout the urban area to minimize effects of habitat isolation and (4) reducing human disturbance, especially in areas of the highest habitat quality, while ensuring that the benefits of connecting people to nature are realized in other locations.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Karl L. Evans
- School of Biosciences, The University of SheffieldSheffieldUK
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15
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Hagemann J, Conejero C, Stillfried M, Mentaberre G, Castillo-Contreras R, Fickel J, López-Olvera JR. Genetic population structure defines wild boar as an urban exploiter species in Barcelona, Spain. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2022; 833:155126. [PMID: 35405223 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155126] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2022] [Revised: 03/27/2022] [Accepted: 04/05/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Urban wildlife ecology is gaining relevance as metropolitan areas grow throughout the world, reducing natural habitats and creating new ecological niches. However, knowledge is still scarce about the colonisation processes of such urban niches, the establishment of new communities, populations and/or species, and the related changes in behaviour and life histories of urban wildlife. Wild boar (Sus scrofa) has successfully colonised urban niches throughout Europe. The aim of this study is to unveil the processes driving the establishment and maintenance of an urban wild boar population by analysing its genetic structure. A set of 19 microsatellite loci was used to test whether urban wild boars in Barcelona, Spain, are an isolated population or if gene flow prevents genetic differentiation between rural and urban wild boars. This knowledge will contribute to the understanding of the effects of synurbisation and the associated management measures on the genetic change of large mammals in urban ecosystems. Despite the unidirectional gene flow from rural to urban areas, the urban wild boars in Barcelona form an island population genotypically differentiated from the surrounding rural ones. The comparison with previous genetic studies of urban wild boar populations suggests that forest patches act as suitable islands for wild boar genetic differentiation. Previous results and the genetic structure of the urban wild boar population in Barcelona classify wild boar as an urban exploiter species. These wild boar peri-urban island populations are responsible for conflict with humans and thus should be managed by reducing the attractiveness of urban areas. The management of peri-urban wild boar populations should aim at reducing migration into urban areas and preventing phenotypic changes (either genetic or plastic) causing habituation of wild boars to humans and urban environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justus Hagemann
- Leibniz-Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, D-10315 Berlin, Germany; University of Potsdam, Evolutionary Adaptive Genomics, Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
| | - Carles Conejero
- Wildlife Ecology & Health group (WE&H) and Servei d'Ecopatologia de Fauna Salvatge (SEFaS), Departament de Medicina i Cirurgia Animals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Milena Stillfried
- Leibniz-Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, D-10315 Berlin, Germany
| | - Gregorio Mentaberre
- Wildlife Ecology & Health group (WE&H) and Servei d'Ecopatologia de Fauna Salvatge (SEFaS), Departament de Medicina i Cirurgia Animals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain; Departament de Ciència Animal, Escola Tècnica Superior d'Enginyeria Agraria (ETSEA), Universitat de Lleida (UdL), 25098 Lleida, Spain
| | - Raquel Castillo-Contreras
- Wildlife Ecology & Health group (WE&H) and Servei d'Ecopatologia de Fauna Salvatge (SEFaS), Departament de Medicina i Cirurgia Animals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Jörns Fickel
- Leibniz-Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, D-10315 Berlin, Germany; University of Potsdam, Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
| | - Jorge Ramón López-Olvera
- Wildlife Ecology & Health group (WE&H) and Servei d'Ecopatologia de Fauna Salvatge (SEFaS), Departament de Medicina i Cirurgia Animals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
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16
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Moura CW, Clucas B, Furnas BJ. Humans Are More Influential Than Coyotes on Mammalian Mesopredator Spatiotemporal Activity Across an Urban Gradient. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.867188] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
For mammalian mesopredators, human-dominated landscapes offer a mosaic of risk and reward. While the reward of anthropogenic food resources may attract mesopredators to human-dominated areas, increased mesopredator activity and abundance in these areas may cause interspecific conflict. For smaller-bodied mesopredators, the perceived risk of intraguild predation by larger mesopredators may be enough to drive spatial and temporal avoidance strategies to reduce risk while still benefiting from anthropogenic resources. We evaluated how the spatiotemporal activity of four non-canid mammalian mesopredators – raccoon (Procyon lotor), striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis), opossum (Didelphis virginiana), and domestic cat (Felis catus) – might change in the presence of an intraguild predator, the coyote (Canis latrans), and a “super predator,” humans. We quantified mesopredator activity by deploying camera traps at 110 sites across an urban gradient in the Sacramento Metropolitan Area in central California, USA. We hypothesized that mesopredators would likely change their spatiotemporal activity in response to urban intensity (H1), coyotes (H2), human presence (H3), and if urban intensity might mediate the response to humans and coyotes (H4). We used single-species occupancy models to test how mesopredators responded to different spatial scales of urbanization, as well as the temporal presence of coyotes and humans. Top single-species models then informed two-species conditional occupancy models to evaluate how mesopredators responded to “dominant” coyotes. Finally, we used temporal overlap analyzes to evaluate whether activity patterns of mesopredators changed in response to humans and coyotes across three levels of urban intensity. Mesopredators did not change their spatial or temporal activity across the urban gradient when coyotes were present. Additionally, coyotes did not influence mesopredator temporal activity at 1-3-day scales; however, raccoons and cats may avoid coyotes at finer scales. Humans influenced mesopredator detectability, as cats and coyotes avoided humans after 1 and 2 days respectively, and opossums avoided urban areas when humans were present within 3 days. Coyotes may play a limited role in altering smaller-bodied mesopredator activity, especially when humans are present. While the impacts of human presence and urban features are often linked, mesopredators may perceive the risk each poses differently, and adjust their activity accordingly.
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17
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von Merten S, Oliveira FG, Tapisso JT, Pustelnik A, Mathias MDL, Rychlik L. Urban populations of shrews show larger behavioural differences among individuals than rural populations. Anim Behav 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.02.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
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18
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Cabon V, Kracht A, Seitz B, Kowarik I, von der Lippe M, Buchholz S. Urbanisation modulates the attractiveness of plant communities to pollinators by filtering for floral traits. OIKOS 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.09071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Valentin Cabon
- Technische Univ. Berlin, Dept of Ecology Berlin Germany
- Univ. de Rennes 1, CNRS‐ECOBIO (Ecosystèmes, Biodiversité, Évolution) UMR 6553 Rennes France
| | - Alice Kracht
- Technische Univ. Berlin, Dept of Ecology Berlin Germany
| | - Birgit Seitz
- Technische Univ. Berlin, Dept of Ecology Berlin Germany
- Berlin‐Brandenburg Inst. of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB) Berlin Germany
| | - Ingo Kowarik
- Technische Univ. Berlin, Dept of Ecology Berlin Germany
- Berlin‐Brandenburg Inst. of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB) Berlin Germany
| | - Moritz von der Lippe
- Technische Univ. Berlin, Dept of Ecology Berlin Germany
- Berlin‐Brandenburg Inst. of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB) Berlin Germany
| | - Sascha Buchholz
- Berlin‐Brandenburg Inst. of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB) Berlin Germany
- Inst. of Landscape Ecology, Univ. of Münster Münster Germany
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19
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Fernando SU, Udagama P, Fernando SP. Effect of urbanization on zoonotic gastrointestinal parasite prevalence in endemic toque macaque ( Macaca sinica) from different climatic zones in Sri Lanka. Int J Parasitol Parasites Wildl 2022; 17:100-109. [PMID: 35024333 PMCID: PMC8724921 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijppaw.2021.12.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2021] [Revised: 12/21/2021] [Accepted: 12/21/2021] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
Understanding variations in host-parasite relationships with urbanization is vital for both, public health management and conservation of endemic animals with high anthropogenic interactions. Toque macaques (Macaca sinica) are such endemic old-world monkeys in Sri Lanka. Three macaque sub species inhabit the main climatic zones of the island; M . s. sinica , M . s. aurifrons and M . s. opisthomelas inhabit the dry zone, wet zone, and montane regions of the island, respectively. This study aimed to examine parasite prevalence in this host in association with urbanization. A total of 180 fecal samples were collected from the three sub species of toque macaques inhabiting the main climatic zones (dry, wet, and montane) in Sri Lanka; 20 samples each were collected from urban, suburban, and wild populations representing each climatic zone. Twenty gastrointestinal (GI) parasite genera types i.e. five types of protozoan cysts, two types of trematode ova, four types of cestode ova, eight types of nematode ova, and a single type of acanthocephalan ova were identified. The overall prevalence of parasites was 62% (112/180) with the highest prevalence of Strongyloides infection. In all three sub species, toque macaque populations with proximity to human settlements, including urban and suburban populations, manifested a greater GI parasitic prevalence, mean ova/cyst counts and species richness, compared to their wild counterparts. Importantly, records of five parasite types in toques in Sri Lanka are reported for the first time, while Moniliformis type was reported as a first record in free ranging macaques, globally. This study clearly demonstrated that human contact and habitat modification may influence patterns of parasitic infections in macaques. As most of the parasite types identified manifest zoonotic potential, with public health implications, close associations of macaques may cause a threat to human well-being.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shehani U. Fernando
- Department of Zoology and Environment Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Colombo, Colombo 03, Sri Lanka
| | - PreethiV. Udagama
- Department of Zoology and Environment Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Colombo, Colombo 03, Sri Lanka
| | - Saminda P. Fernando
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, The Open University of Sri Lanka, Nawala, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka
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20
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Gámez S, Potts A, Mills KL, Allen AA, Holman A, Randon PM, Linson O, Harris NC. Downtown diet: a global meta-analysis of increased urbanization on the diets of vertebrate predators. Proc Biol Sci 2022; 289:20212487. [PMID: 35232241 PMCID: PMC8889190 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.2487] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Predation is a fundamental ecological process that shapes communities and drives evolutionary dynamics. As the world rapidly urbanizes, it is critical to understand how human perturbations alter predation and meat consumption across taxa. We conducted a meta-analysis to quantify the effects of urban environments on three components of trophic ecology in predators: dietary species richness, dietary evenness and stable isotopic ratios (IRs) (δ13C and δ15N IR). We evaluated whether the intensity of anthropogenic pressure, using the human footprint index (HFI), explained variation in effect sizes of dietary attributes using a meta-regression. We calculated Hedges' g effect sizes from 44 studies including 11 986 samples across 40 predatory species in 39 cities globally. The direction and magnitude of effect sizes varied among predator taxa with reptilian diets exhibiting the most sensitivity to urbanization. Effect sizes revealed that predators in cities had comparable diet richness, evenness and nitrogen ratios, though carbon IRs were more enriched in cities. We found that neither the 1993 nor 2009 HFI editions explained effect size variation. Our study provides, to our knowledge, the first assessment of how urbanization has perturbed predator-prey interactions for multiple taxa at a global scale. We conclude that the functional role of predators is conserved in cities and urbanization does not inherently relax predation, despite diets broadening to include anthropogenic food sources such as sugar, wheat and corn.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siria Gámez
- Applied Wildlife Ecology Laboratory, School of the Environment, Yale University, 195 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Abigail Potts
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, 500 S State Street #2005, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Kirby L Mills
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, 500 S State Street #2005, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Aurelia A Allen
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, 500 S State Street #2005, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Allyson Holman
- School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, 500 S State Street #2005, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Peggy M Randon
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, 500 S State Street #2005, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Olivia Linson
- College of Literature, Science and the Arts, University of Michigan, 500 S State Street #2005, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Nyeema C Harris
- Applied Wildlife Ecology Laboratory, School of the Environment, Yale University, 195 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
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21
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The urban myth: A lack of agreement between definitions of urban environments used in wildlife health research may contribute to inconsistent epidemiological findings. Urban Ecosyst 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s11252-022-01213-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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22
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Living in a tropical concrete jungle: diversity and abundance variation in a parrot assemblage (Aves, Psittacidae) of a major Amazonian city. Urban Ecosyst 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s11252-022-01209-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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23
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Giacinti JA, Jane Parmley E, Reist M, Bayley D, Pearl DL, Jardine CM. Canadian wildlife health surveillance—patterns, challenges and opportunities identified by a scoping review. Facets (Ott) 2022. [DOI: 10.1139/facets-2021-0027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The protection and promotion of healthy wildlife populations is emerging as a shared goal among stakeholders in the face of unprecedented environmental threats. Accordingly, there are growing demands for the generation of actionable wildlife health information. Wildlife health surveillance is a connected system of knowledge that generates data on a range of factors that influence health. Canada recently approved the Pan-Canadian Approach to Wildlife Health that describes challenges facing wildlife health programs and provides a path forward for modernizing our approach. This scoping review was undertaken to describe the range of peer-reviewed Canadian wildlife health surveillance literature within the context of the challenges facing wildlife health programs and to provide a quantitative synthesis of evidence to establish baselines, identify gaps, and inform areas for growth. This review describes patterns related to species, location, authorship/funding, objectives, and methodology. Five areas are identified that have the potential to propel the field of wildlife health: representativeness, expanded/diversified collaboration, community engagement, harmonization, and a shift to a solutions-focused and One Health mindset. This scoping review provides a synopsis of 10 years of Canadian wildlife health surveillance, challenges us to envision the future of successful wildlife health surveillance, and provides a benchmark from which we can measure change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jolene A. Giacinti
- Department of Pathobiology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
- Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative, Department of Pathobiology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
| | - E. Jane Parmley
- Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
- Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative, Department of Pathobiology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
| | - Mark Reist
- Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
- Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative, Department of Pathobiology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
- Veterinary Drugs Directorate, Health Products and Food Branch, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON N1G 2W1 Canada
| | - Daniel Bayley
- Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
| | - David L. Pearl
- Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
| | - Claire M. Jardine
- Department of Pathobiology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
- Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative, Department of Pathobiology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
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Niesner CA, Blakey RV, Blumstein DT, Abelson ES. Wildlife Affordances of Urban Infrastructure: A Framework to Understand Human-Wildlife Space Use. FRONTIERS IN CONSERVATION SCIENCE 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fcosc.2021.774137] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Landscape affordances, what the environment offers an animal, are inherently species-specific to the extent that each taxon has unique needs and responses to landscape characteristics. Wildlife responses to landscape features range on a continuum from avoidance to attraction and quantifying these habits are the backbone of wildlife movement ecology. In anthropogenically modified landscapes, many taxa do not occupy areas heavily influenced by humans, while some species seem to flourish, such as coyotes (Canis latrans) and pigeons (Columba livia). Sufficient overlap in landscapes designed for human purposes (e.g., freeway underpasses, channelized waterways, and cemeteries) but which are also suitable for wildlife (e.g., by providing sources of food, shelter, and refuge) underlies wildlife persistence in urban areas and is increasingly important in the world's largest metropoles. Studying these overlapping worlds of humans and wildlife in cities provides a rich foundation for broadening human perceptions of cities as ecosystems that exhibit emergent hybridity, whereby certain anthropogenic features of urban landscapes can be used by wildlife even as they maintain their utility for humans. By examining scaling dynamics of the infrastructural signature, the phenomena of urban wildlife movement patterns conforming to the shapes of human infrastructural forms, we hope to expand on prior research in wildlife landscape ecology by stressing the importance of understanding the overlapping worlds of humans and wildlife. Further knowledge of the urban ecological commons is necessary to better design cities where emergent hybridity is leveraged toward the management goals of reducing human wildlife conflict and promoting biodiversity.
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Padilla BJ, Sutherland C. Defining dual-axis landscape gradients of human influence for studying ecological processes. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0252364. [PMID: 34793474 PMCID: PMC8601559 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0252364] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2021] [Accepted: 10/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Ecological processes are strongly shaped by human landscape modification, and understanding the reciprocal relationship between ecosystems and modified landscapes is critical for informed conservation. Single axis measures of spatial heterogeneity proliferate in the contemporary gradient ecology literature, though they are unlikely to capture the complexity of ecological responses. Here, we develop a standardized approach for defining multi-dimensional gradients of human influence in heterogeneous landscapes and demonstrate this approach to analyze landscape characteristics of ten ecologically distinct US cities. Using occupancy data of a common human-adaptive songbird collected in each of the cities, we then use our dual-axis gradients to evaluate the utility of our approach. Spatial analysis of landscapes surrounding ten US cities revealed two important axes of variation that are intuitively consistent with the characteristics of multi-use landscapes, but are often confounded in single axis gradients. These were, a hard-to-soft gradient, representing transition from developed areas to non-structural soft areas; and brown-to-green, differentiating between two dominant types of soft landscapes: agriculture (brown) and natural areas (green). Analysis of American robin occurrence data demonstrated that occupancy responds to both hard-to-soft (decreasing with development intensity) and brown-to-green gradient (increasing with more natural area). Overall, our results reveal striking consistency in the dominant sources of variation across ten geographically distinct cities and suggests that our approach advances how we relate variation in ecological responses to human influence. Our case study demonstrates this: robins show a remarkably consistent response to a gradient differentiating agricultural and natural areas, but city-specific responses to the more traditional gradient of development intensity, which would be overlooked with a single gradient approach. Managing ecological communities in human dominated landscapes is extremely challenging due to a lack of standardized approaches and a general understanding of how socio-ecological systems function, and our approach offers promising solutions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Juan Padilla
- Research Institute – Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Chris Sutherland
- Centre for Research into Ecological and Environmental Modelling, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
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DeGregorio BA, Gale C, V. Lassiter E, Massey A, Roberts CP, T. Veon J. Nine-banded armadillo ( Dasypus novemcinctus) activity patterns are influenced by human activity. Ecol Evol 2021; 11:15874-15881. [PMID: 34824796 PMCID: PMC8601930 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.8257] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2021] [Revised: 09/24/2021] [Accepted: 09/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
As the human footprint upon the landscape expands, wildlife seeking to avoid human contact are losing the option of altering their spatial distribution and instead are shifting their daily activity patterns to be active at different times than humans. In this study, we used game cameras to evaluate how human development and activity were related to the daily activity patterns of the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) along an urban to rural gradient in Arkansas, USA during the winter of 2020-2021. We found that armadillos had substantial behavioral plasticity in regard to the timing of their activity patterns; >95% of armadillo activity was nocturnal at six of the study sites, whereas between 30% and 60% of activity occurred during the day at three other sites. The likelihood of diurnal armadillo activity was best explained by the distance to downtown Fayetteville (the nearest population center) and estimated ambient sound level (both indices of human activity) with armadillos being most active during the day at quiet sites far from Fayetteville. Furthermore, armadillo activity occurred later during the night period (minutes after sunset) at sites near downtown and with higher anthropogenic sound. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the observed activity shift may be in response to not only human activity but also the presence of domestic dogs. Our results provide further evidence that human activity has subtle nonlethal impacts on even common, widespread wildlife species. Because armadillos have low body temperatures and basal metabolism, being active during cold winter nights likely has measurable fitness costs. Nature reserves near human population centers may not serve as safe harbors for wildlife as we intend, and managers could benefit from considering these nonlethal responses in how they manage recreation and visitation in these natural areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brett A. DeGregorio
- U.S. Geological SurveyFish and Wildlife Cooperative Research UnitUniversity of ArkansasFayettevilleArkansasUSA
| | - Connor Gale
- Department of Biological SciencesUniversity of ArkansasFayettevilleArkansasUSA
| | - Ellery V. Lassiter
- Department of Biological SciencesUniversity of ArkansasFayettevilleArkansasUSA
| | - Andrhea Massey
- Department of Biological SciencesUniversity of ArkansasFayettevilleArkansasUSA
| | - Caleb P. Roberts
- U.S. Geological SurveyFish and Wildlife Cooperative Research UnitUniversity of ArkansasFayettevilleArkansasUSA
| | - John T. Veon
- Department of Biological SciencesUniversity of ArkansasFayettevilleArkansasUSA
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Mühlenhaupt M, Baxter-Gilbert J, Makhubo BG, Riley JL, Measey J. Growing up in a new world: trait divergence between rural, urban, and invasive populations of an amphibian urban invader. NEOBIOTA 2021. [DOI: 10.3897/neobiota.69.67995] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Cities are focal points of introduction for invasive species. Urban evolution might facilitate the success of invasive species in recipient urban habitats. Here we test this hypothesis by rearing tadpoles of a successful amphibian urban coloniser and invader in a common garden environment. We compared growth rate, morphological traits, swimming performance, and developmental rate of guttural toad tadpoles (Sclerophrys gutturalis) from native rural, native urban, and non-native urban habitats. By measuring these traits across ontogeny, we were also able to compare divergence across different origins as the tadpoles develop. The tadpoles of non-native urban origin showed significantly slower developmental rate (e.g., the proportion of tadpoles reaching Gosner stage 31 or higher was lower at age 40 days) than tadpoles of native urban origin. Yet, tadpoles did not differ in growth rate or any morphological or performance trait examined, and none of these traits showed divergent ontogenetic changes between tadpoles of different origin. These findings suggest that prior adaptation to urban habitats in larval traits likely does not play an important role in facilitating the invasion success of guttural toads into other urban habitats. Instead, we suggest that evolutionary changes in larval traits after colonization (e.g., developmental rate), together with decoupling of other traits and phenotypic plasticity might explain how this species succeeded in colonising extra-limital urban habitats.
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Urbieta GL, Graciolli G, Vizentin-Bugoni J. Modularity and specialization in bat-fly interaction networks are remarkably consistent across patches within urbanized landscapes and spatial scales. Curr Zool 2021; 67:403-410. [PMID: 34616937 PMCID: PMC8489009 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoaa072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2020] [Accepted: 11/03/2020] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Patterns of specialization and the structure of interactions between bats and ectoparasitic flies have been studied mostly on non-urban environments and at local scales. Thus, how anthropogenic disturbances influence species interactions and network structure in this system remain poorly understood. Here, we investigated patterns of interaction between Phyllostomidae bats and ectoparasitic Streblidae flies, and variations in network specialization and structure across Cerrado patches within urbanized landscapes in Brazil and between local and regional scales. We found high similarity in the richness and composition of bat and fly species across communities, associated with low turnover of interactions between networks. The high specialization of bat–streblid interactions resulted in little connected and modular networks, with the emergence of modules containing subsets of species that interact exclusively or primarily with each other. Such similarities in species and interaction composition and network structure across communities and scales suggest that bat–fly interactions within Cerrado patches are little affected by the degree of human modification in the surrounding matrix. This remarkable consistency is likely promoted by specific behaviors, the tolerance of Phyllostomidae bats to surrounding urbanized landscapes as well as by the specificity of the streblid–bat interactions shaped over evolutionary time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gustavo Lima Urbieta
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Biológicas, Departamento de Sistemática e Ecologia, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Cidade Jardim Universitário, s/n, Castelo Branco, João Pessoa 58051-900, Brazil
| | - Gustavo Graciolli
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Animal, Laboratório de Sistemática, Ecologia e Evolução (LSEE), Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS), Campo Grande 79090-900, Brazil
| | - Jeferson Vizentin-Bugoni
- Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
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Chatelain M, Da Silva A, Celej M, Kurek E, Bulska E, Corsini M, Szulkin M. Replicated, urban-driven exposure to metallic trace elements in two passerines. Sci Rep 2021; 11:19662. [PMID: 34608262 PMCID: PMC8490372 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-99329-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2021] [Accepted: 09/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
While there are increasing examples of phenotypic and genotypic differences between urban and non-urban populations of plants and animals, few studies identified the mechanisms explaining those dissimilarities. The characterization of the urban landscape, which can only be achieved by measuring variability in relevant environmental factors within and between cities, is a keystone prerequisite to understand the effects of urbanization on wildlife. Here, we measured variation in bird exposure to metal pollution within 8 replicated urbanization gradients and within 2 flagship bird species in urban evolutionary ecology: the blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) and the great tit (Parus major). We report on a highly significant, positive linear relationship between the magnitude of urbanization-inferred as either tree cover, impervious surface cover, or an urbanization score computed from several environmental variables, and copper, zinc and lead concentrations in bird feathers. The reverse relationship was measured in the case of mercury, while cadmium and arsenic did not vary in response to the urbanization level. This result, replicated across multiple cities and two passerine species, strongly suggests that copper, zinc, lead and mercury pollution is likely to trigger the emergence of parallel responses at the phenotypic and/or genotypic level between urban environments worldwide.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marion Chatelain
- Centre of New Technologies, University of Warsaw, 02-097, Warsaw, Poland. .,Department of Zoology, University of Innsbruck, Technikerstraße 25, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria.
| | - Arnaud Da Silva
- grid.12847.380000 0004 1937 1290Centre of New Technologies, University of Warsaw, 02-097 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Marta Celej
- grid.12847.380000 0004 1937 1290Centre of New Technologies, University of Warsaw, 02-097 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Eliza Kurek
- grid.12847.380000 0004 1937 1290Faculty of Chemistry, Biological and Chemical Research Centre, University of Warsaw, 02-089 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Ewa Bulska
- grid.12847.380000 0004 1937 1290Centre of New Technologies, University of Warsaw, 02-097 Warsaw, Poland ,grid.12847.380000 0004 1937 1290Faculty of Chemistry, Biological and Chemical Research Centre, University of Warsaw, 02-089 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Michela Corsini
- grid.12847.380000 0004 1937 1290Centre of New Technologies, University of Warsaw, 02-097 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Marta Szulkin
- grid.12847.380000 0004 1937 1290Centre of New Technologies, University of Warsaw, 02-097 Warsaw, Poland
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Worsley-Tonks KEL, Gehrt SD, Anchor C, Escobar LE, Craft ME. Infection risk varies within urbanized landscapes: the case of coyotes and heartworm. Parasit Vectors 2021; 14:464. [PMID: 34503566 PMCID: PMC8427890 DOI: 10.1186/s13071-021-04958-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2021] [Accepted: 08/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Urbanization can have profound effects on ecological interactions. For host-pathogen interactions, differences have been detected between urban and non-urban landscapes. However, host-pathogen interactions may also differ within highly heterogeneous, urbanized landscapes. METHODS We investigated differences in infection risk (i.e., probability of infection) within urbanized landscapes using the coyote (Canis latrans) and mosquito-borne nematode, Dirofilaria immitis (the causative agent for canine heartworm), as a case study. We focused on a coyote population in Chicago for which extensive behavioral and heartworm infection data has been collected between 2001 and 2016. Our objectives were to: (i) determine how onset and duration of the heartworm transmission season varied over the 16-year period and across the urban-suburban gradient; and (ii) investigate how heartworm infection risk in coyotes varied over the years, across the urban-suburban gradient, by coyote characteristics (e.g., age, sex, resident status), and coyote use of the urbanized landscape (e.g., use of urban areas, mosquito habitats). RESULTS While onset of the heartworm transmission season differed neither by year nor across the urban-suburban gradient, it was longer closer to the core of Chicago. Of the 315 coyotes sampled, 31.1% were infected with D. immitis. Older coyotes and coyotes sampled in later years (i.e., 2012-2016) were more likely to have heartworm. While coyote location in the urban-suburban gradient was not a significant predictor of infection, the proportion of urban land in coyote home ranges was. Importantly, the size and direction of this association varied by age class. For adults and pups, infection risk declined with urbanization, whereas for subadults it increased. Further, models had a higher predictive power when focusing on resident coyotes (and excluding transient coyotes). The proportion of mosquito habitat in coyote home ranges was not a significant predictor of infection. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that urbanization may affect host exposure to vectors of D. immitis, that risk of infection can vary within urbanized landscapes, and that urbanization-wildlife infection associations may only be detected for animals with certain characteristics (e.g., age class and resident status).
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Stanley D Gehrt
- School of Environment and Natural Resources, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA.,Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation, Dundee Township, IL, USA
| | - Chris Anchor
- Forest Preserve District of Cook County, Hoffman Estates, IL, 60120, USA
| | - Luis E Escobar
- Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24060, USA
| | - Meggan E Craft
- Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, 55108, USA.,Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, USA
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Gámez S, Harris NC. Living in the concrete jungle: carnivore spatial ecology in urban parks. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2021; 31:e02393. [PMID: 34164878 PMCID: PMC9285087 DOI: 10.1002/eap.2393] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2020] [Revised: 11/23/2020] [Accepted: 01/15/2021] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
People and wildlife are living in an increasingly urban world, replete with unprecedented human densities, sprawling built environments, and altered landscapes. Such anthropogenic pressures can affect multiple processes within an ecological community, from spatial patterns to interspecific interactions. We tested two competing hypotheses, human shields vs. human competitors, to characterize how humans affect the carnivore community using multispecies occupancy models. From 2017 to 2020, we conducted the first camera survey of city parks in Detroit, Michigan, and collected spatial occurrence data of the local native carnivore community. Our 12,106-trap night survey captured detection data for coyotes (Canis latrans), red foxes (Vulpes vulpes), raccoons (Procyon lotor), and striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis). Overall occupancy varied across species (Ψcoyote = 0.40, Ψraccoon = 0.54, Ψred fox = 0.19, Ψstriped skunk = 0.09). Contrary to expectations, humans did not significantly affect individual occupancy for these urban carnivores. However, co-occurrence between coyote and skunk increased with human activity. The observed positive spatial association between an apex and subordinate pair supports the human shield hypothesis. Our findings demonstrate how urban carnivores can exploit spatial refugia and coexist with humans in the cityscape.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siria Gámez
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of Michigan1101 North University AvenueAnn ArborMichigan48106USA
| | - Nyeema C. Harris
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of Michigan1101 North University AvenueAnn ArborMichigan48106USA
- Applied Wildlife Ecology LabSchool of the EnvironmentYale University195 Prospect St.New HavenConnecticut06511USA
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Moll RJ, Killion AK, Hayward MW, Montgomery RA. A Framework for the Eltonian Niche of Humans. Bioscience 2021. [DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biab055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Recent research has highlighted several influential roles that humans play in ecosystems, including that of a superpredator, hyperkeystone species, and niche constructor. This work has begun to describe the Eltonian niche of humans, which encompasses humanity's cumulative ecological and evolutionary roles in trophic systems. However, we lack a unifying framework that brings together these strands of research, links them to ecoevolutionary and sociocultural theory, and identifies current research needs. In this article, we present such a framework in hope of facilitating a more holistic approach to operationalizing human roles in trophic systems across an increasingly anthropogenic biosphere. The framework underscores how humans play numerous nuanced roles in trophic systems, from top-down to bottom-up, that entail not only pernicious effects but also benefits for many nonhuman species. Such a nuanced view of the Eltonian niche of humans is important for understanding complex social–ecological system functioning and enacting effective policies and conservation measures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Remington J Moll
- Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, United States
| | - Alexander K Killion
- School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
| | - Matt W Hayward
- Conservation Biology Research Group, School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales, Australia
- Mammal Research Centre, University of Pretoria, Tshwane, South Africa, and with the Centre for African Conservation Ecology, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
| | - Robert A Montgomery
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Tubney, United Kingdom
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Fidino M, Gallo T, Lehrer EW, Murray MH, Kay CAM, Sander HA, MacDougall B, Salsbury CM, Ryan TJ, Angstmann JL, Amy Belaire J, Dugelby B, Schell CJ, Stankowich T, Amaya M, Drake D, Hursh SH, Ahlers AA, Williamson J, Hartley LM, Zellmer AJ, Simon K, Magle SB. Landscape-scale differences among cities alter common species' responses to urbanization. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2021; 31:e02253. [PMID: 33141996 DOI: 10.1002/eap.2253] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2020] [Revised: 07/27/2020] [Accepted: 08/24/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Understanding how biodiversity responds to urbanization is challenging, due in part to the single-city focus of most urban ecological research. Here, we delineate continent-scale patterns in urban species assemblages by leveraging data from a multi-city camera trap survey and quantify how differences in greenspace availability and average housing density among 10 North American cities relate to the distribution of eight widespread North American mammals. To do so, we deployed camera traps at 569 sites across these ten cities between 18 June and 14 August. Most data came from 2017, though some cities contributed 2016 or 2018 data if it was available. We found that the magnitude and direction of most species' responses to urbanization within a city were associated with landscape-scale differences among cities. For example, eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), fox squirrel (Sciurus niger), and red fox (Vulpes vulpes) responses to urbanization changed from negative to positive once the proportion of green space within a city was >~20%. Likewise, raccoon (Procyon lotor) and Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) responses to urbanization changed from positive to negative once the average housing density of a city exceeded about 700 housing units/km2 . We also found that local species richness within cities consistently declined with urbanization in only the more densely developed cities (>~700 housing units/km2 ). Given our results, it may therefore be possible to design cities to better support biodiversity and reduce the negative influence of urbanization on wildlife by, for example, increasing the amount of green space within a city. Additionally, it may be most important for densely populated cities to find innovative solutions to bolster wildlife resilience because they were the most likely to observe diversity losses of common urban species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mason Fidino
- Department of Conservation and Science, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, Illinois, 60614, USA
| | - Travis Gallo
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, 22030, USA
| | - Elizabeth W Lehrer
- Department of Conservation and Science, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, Illinois, 60614, USA
| | - Maureen H Murray
- Department of Conservation and Science, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, Illinois, 60614, USA
| | - Cria A M Kay
- Department of Conservation and Science, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, Illinois, 60614, USA
| | - Heather A Sander
- Department of Geographical and Sustainability Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, 52240, USA
| | - Brandon MacDougall
- Department of Geographical and Sustainability Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, 52240, USA
| | - Carmen M Salsbury
- Center for Urban Ecology and Sustainability, Butler University, Indianapolis, Indiana, 46208, USA
- Department of Biological Sciences, Butler University, Indianapolis, Indiana, 46208, USA
| | - Travis J Ryan
- Center for Urban Ecology and Sustainability, Butler University, Indianapolis, Indiana, 46208, USA
- Department of Biological Sciences, Butler University, Indianapolis, Indiana, 46208, USA
| | - Julia L Angstmann
- Department of Biological Sciences, Butler University, Indianapolis, Indiana, 46208, USA
| | | | - Barbara Dugelby
- Wild Basin Creative Research Center, St. Edward's University, Austin, Texas, 78704, USA
| | - Christopher J Schell
- Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, University of Washington Tacoma, Tacoma, Washington, 98405, USA
| | - Theodore Stankowich
- Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, Long Beach, California, 90840, USA
| | - Max Amaya
- Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, Long Beach, California, 90840, USA
| | - David Drake
- Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706, USA
| | - Sheryl H Hursh
- Nelson Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706, USA
| | - Adam A Ahlers
- Department of Horticulture and Natural Resources, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, 66506, USA
| | - Jacque Williamson
- Department of Education & Conservation, Brandywine Zoo, Wilmington, Delaware, 19802, USA
| | | | - Amanda J Zellmer
- Department of Biology, Occidental College, Los Angeles, California, 90041, USA
- Arroyos and Foothills Conservancy, Pasadena, California, 91102, USA
| | - Kelly Simon
- Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Austin, Texas, 78774, USA
| | - Seth B Magle
- Department of Conservation and Science, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, Illinois, 60614, USA
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Herrera DJ, Moore SM, Flockhart DTT, McShea WJ, Cove MV. Thinking outside the park: recommendations for camera trapping mammal communities in the urban matrix. JOURNAL OF URBAN ECOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1093/jue/juaa036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Urbanization is increasing globally, fragmenting habitats and prompting human–wildlife conflict. Urban wildlife research is concurrently expanding, but sampling methods are often biased towards large and intact habitats in public green spaces, neglecting the far more abundant, but degraded, habitats in the urban matrix. Here, we introduce the Five P’s of Urban Ecology—Partnerships, Planning, Placements, Public participation and Processing—as a path to overcoming the logistical barriers often associated with camera-trapping in the urban matrix. Though the Five P’s can be applied to a variety of urban sampling methods, we showcase the camera-trapping efforts of the DC Cat Count project in Washington, DC, as a case study. We compared occupancy models for eight urban mammal species using broad categorizations of land cover and local land use to determine drivers of mammal occurrence within the urban matrix as compared with urban habitat patches. Many native species maintained a strong association with large, semi-natural green spaces, but occupancy was not limited to these locations, and in some cases, the use of private yards and the built environment were not notably different. Furthermore, some species exhibited higher occupancy probabilities in developed areas over green spaces. Though seemingly intuitive, we offer advice on how to greatly reduce habitat-biased sampling methods in urban wildlife research and illustrate the importance of doing so to ensure accurate results that support the formation of effective urban planning and policy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel J Herrera
- Humane Rescue Alliance, 71 Oglethorpe Street NW, Washington, DC 20011, USA
| | - Sophie M Moore
- Humane Rescue Alliance, 71 Oglethorpe Street NW, Washington, DC 20011, USA
| | - D T Tyler Flockhart
- Appalachian Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, 301 Braddock Rd, Frostburg, MD 21532, USA
| | - William J McShea
- Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, 1500 Remount Road, Front Royal, VA, 22630, USA
| | - Michael V Cove
- North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, 11 W Jones Street, Raleigh, NC, 27601, USA
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Orlandin E, Carneiro E. Classes of protection in urban forest fragments are effectiveless in structuring butterfly assemblages: landscape and forest structure are far better predictors. Urban Ecosyst 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s11252-020-01086-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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Des Roches S, Brans KI, Lambert MR, Rivkin LR, Savage AM, Schell CJ, Correa C, De Meester L, Diamond SE, Grimm NB, Harris NC, Govaert L, Hendry AP, Johnson MTJ, Munshi‐South J, Palkovacs EP, Szulkin M, Urban MC, Verrelli BC, Alberti M. Socio-eco-evolutionary dynamics in cities. Evol Appl 2021; 14:248-267. [PMID: 33519968 PMCID: PMC7819562 DOI: 10.1111/eva.13065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/29/2020] [Revised: 05/22/2020] [Accepted: 06/29/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Cities are uniquely complex systems regulated by interactions and feedbacks between nature and human society. Characteristics of human society-including culture, economics, technology and politics-underlie social patterns and activity, creating a heterogeneous environment that can influence and be influenced by both ecological and evolutionary processes. Increasing research on urban ecology and evolutionary biology has coincided with growing interest in eco-evolutionary dynamics, which encompasses the interactions and reciprocal feedbacks between evolution and ecology. Research on both urban evolutionary biology and eco-evolutionary dynamics frequently focuses on contemporary evolution of species that have potentially substantial ecological-and even social-significance. Still, little work fully integrates urban evolutionary biology and eco-evolutionary dynamics, and rarely do researchers in either of these fields fully consider the role of human social patterns and processes. Because cities are fundamentally regulated by human activities, are inherently interconnected and are frequently undergoing social and economic transformation, they represent an opportunity for ecologists and evolutionary biologists to study urban "socio-eco-evolutionary dynamics." Through this new framework, we encourage researchers of urban ecology and evolution to fully integrate human social drivers and feedbacks to increase understanding and conservation of ecosystems, their functions and their contributions to people within and outside cities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simone Des Roches
- Department of Urban Design and PlanningUniversity of WashingtonSeattleWAUSA
| | - Kristien I. Brans
- Department of BiologyLaboratory of Aquatic Ecology, Evolution and ConservationKU LeuvenLeuvenBelgium
| | - Max R. Lambert
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and ManagementUniversity of CaliforniaBerkeleyCAUSA
| | - L. Ruth Rivkin
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of TorontoTorontoONCanada
- Department of BiologyUniversity of Toronto MississaugaMississaugaONCanada
- Centre for Urban EnvironmentsUniversity of Toronto MississaugaMississaugaONCanada
| | - Amy Marie Savage
- Department of BiologyCenter for Computational and Integrative BiologyRutgers UniversityCamdenNJUSA
| | - Christopher J. Schell
- School of Interdisciplinary Arts and SciencesUniversity of Washington TacomaTacomaWAUSA
| | - Cristian Correa
- Facultad de Ciencias Forestales y Recursos NaturalesInstituto de Conservación Biodiversidad y TerritorioUniversidad Austral de ChileValdiviaChile
- Centro de Humedales Río CrucesUniversidad Austral de ChileValdiviaChile
| | - Luc De Meester
- Department of BiologyLaboratory of Aquatic Ecology, Evolution and ConservationKU LeuvenLeuvenBelgium
- Institute of BiologyFreie UniversitätBerlinGermany
- Leibniz Institut für Gewasserökologie und BinnenfischereiBerlinGermany
| | - Sarah E. Diamond
- Department of BiologyCase Western Reserve UniversityClevelandOHUSA
| | - Nancy B. Grimm
- School of Life SciencesArizona State UniversityTempeAZUSA
| | - Nyeema C. Harris
- Applied Wildlife Ecology Lab, Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of MichiganAnn ArborMIUSA
| | - Lynn Govaert
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental StudiesUniversity of ZurichZurichSwitzerland
- Department of Aquatic EcologySwiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and TechnologyDuebendorfSwitzerland
| | - Andrew P. Hendry
- Department of BiologyRedpath MuseumMcGill UniversityMontrealQCCanada
| | - Marc T. J. Johnson
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of TorontoTorontoONCanada
- Department of BiologyUniversity of Toronto MississaugaMississaugaONCanada
- Centre for Urban EnvironmentsUniversity of Toronto MississaugaMississaugaONCanada
| | - Jason Munshi‐South
- Department of Biological Sciences and Louis Calder CenterFordham UniversityArmonkNYUSA
| | - Eric P. Palkovacs
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of CaliforniaSanta CruzCAUSA
| | - Marta Szulkin
- Centre of New TechnologiesUniversity of WarsawWarsawPoland
| | - Mark C. Urban
- Center of Biological Risk and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of ConnecticutStorrsCTUSA
| | - Brian C. Verrelli
- Center for Life Sciences EducationVirginia Commonwealth UniversityRichmondVAUSA
| | - Marina Alberti
- Department of Urban Design and PlanningUniversity of WashingtonSeattleWAUSA
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Corsini M, Schöll EM, Di Lecce I, Chatelain M, Dubiec A, Szulkin M. Growing in the city: Urban evolutionary ecology of avian growth rates. Evol Appl 2021; 14:69-84. [PMID: 33519957 PMCID: PMC7819560 DOI: 10.1111/eva.13081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2020] [Revised: 07/17/2020] [Accepted: 07/20/2020] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Rapid environmental change driven by urbanization offers a unique insight into the adaptive potential of urban-dwelling organisms. Urban-driven phenotypic differentiation is increasingly often demonstrated, but the impact of urbanization (here modelled as the percentage of impervious surface (ISA) around each nestbox) on offspring developmental rates and subsequent survival remains poorly understood. Furthermore, the role of selection on urban-driven phenotypic divergence was rarely investigated to date. METHODS AND RESULTS Data on nestling development and body mass were analysed in a gradient of urbanization set in Warsaw, Poland, in two passerine species: great tits (Parus major) and blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus). Increasing levels of impervious surface area (ISA) delayed the age of fastest growth in blue tits. Nestling body mass was also negatively affected by increasing ISA 5 and 10 days after hatching in great tits, and 10 and 15 days in blue tits, respectively. High levels of ISA also increased nestling mortality 5 and 10 days after hatching in both species. An analysis of selection differentials performed for two levels of urbanization (low and high ISA) revealed a positive association between mass at day 2 and survival at fledging. DISCUSSION This study confirms the considerable negative impact of imperviousness-a proxy for urbanization level-on offspring development, body mass and survival, and highlights increased selection on avian mass at hatching in a high ISA environment.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Eva Maria Schöll
- Institute of Wildlife Biology and Game ManagementUniversity of Natural Resources and Life SciencesViennaAustria
| | - Irene Di Lecce
- Centre of New TechnologiesUniversity of WarsawWarsawPoland
| | - Marion Chatelain
- Applied and Trophic EcologyDepartment of ZoologyUniversity of InnsbruckInnsbruckAustria
| | - Anna Dubiec
- Museum and Institute of ZoologyPolish Academy of SciencesWarsawPoland
| | - Marta Szulkin
- Centre of New TechnologiesUniversity of WarsawWarsawPoland
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Schell CJ, Stanton LA, Young JK, Angeloni LM, Lambert JE, Breck SW, Murray MH. The evolutionary consequences of human-wildlife conflict in cities. Evol Appl 2021; 14:178-197. [PMID: 33519964 PMCID: PMC7819564 DOI: 10.1111/eva.13131] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2020] [Revised: 07/03/2020] [Accepted: 08/13/2020] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Human-wildlife interactions, including human-wildlife conflict, are increasingly common as expanding urbanization worldwide creates more opportunities for people to encounter wildlife. Wildlife-vehicle collisions, zoonotic disease transmission, property damage, and physical attacks to people or their pets have negative consequences for both people and wildlife, underscoring the need for comprehensive strategies that mitigate and prevent conflict altogether. Management techniques often aim to deter, relocate, or remove individual organisms, all of which may present a significant selective force in both urban and nonurban systems. Management-induced selection may significantly affect the adaptive or nonadaptive evolutionary processes of urban populations, yet few studies explicate the links among conflict, wildlife management, and urban evolution. Moreover, the intensity of conflict management can vary considerably by taxon, public perception, policy, religious and cultural beliefs, and geographic region, which underscores the complexity of developing flexible tools to reduce conflict. Here, we present a cross-disciplinary perspective that integrates human-wildlife conflict, wildlife management, and urban evolution to address how social-ecological processes drive wildlife adaptation in cities. We emphasize that variance in implemented management actions shapes the strength and rate of phenotypic and evolutionary change. We also consider how specific management strategies either promote genetic or plastic changes, and how leveraging those biological inferences could help optimize management actions while minimizing conflict. Investigating human-wildlife conflict as an evolutionary phenomenon may provide insights into how conflict arises and how management plays a critical role in shaping urban wildlife phenotypes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher J. Schell
- School of Interdisciplinary Arts and SciencesUniversity of Washington TacomaTacomaWAUSA
| | - Lauren A. Stanton
- Department of Zoology and PhysiologyUniversity of WyomingLaramieWYUSA
- Program in EcologyUniversity of WyomingLaramieWYUSA
| | - Julie K. Young
- USDA‐WS‐National Wildlife Research Center‐Predator Research FacilityMillvilleUTUSA
| | | | - Joanna E. Lambert
- Program in Environmental Studies and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of Colorado‐BoulderBoulderCOUSA
| | - Stewart W. Breck
- USDA‐WS‐National Wildlife Research CenterFort CollinsCOUSA
- Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation BiologyFort CollinsCOUSA
| | - Maureen H. Murray
- Urban Wildlife Institute and Davee Center for Epidemiology and EndocrinologyChicagoILUSA
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Theodorou P, Baltz LM, Paxton RJ, Soro A. Urbanization is associated with shifts in bumblebee body size, with cascading effects on pollination. Evol Appl 2021; 14:53-68. [PMID: 33519956 PMCID: PMC7819558 DOI: 10.1111/eva.13087] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2020] [Revised: 07/29/2020] [Accepted: 07/30/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Urbanization is a global phenomenon with major effects on species, the structure of community functional traits and ecological interactions. Body size is a key species trait linked to metabolism, life-history and dispersal as well as a major determinant of ecological networks. Here, using a well-replicated urban-rural sampling design in Central Europe, we investigate the direction of change of body size in response to urbanization in three common bumblebee species, Bombus lapidarius, Bombus pascuorum and Bombus terrestris, and potential knock-on effects on pollination service provision. We found foragers of B. terrestris to be larger in cities and the body size of all species to be positively correlated with road density (albeit at different, species-specific scales); these are expected consequences of habitat fragmentation resulting from urbanization. High ambient temperature at sampling was associated with both a small body size and an increase in variation of body size in all three species. At the community level, the community-weighted mean body size and its variation increased with urbanization. Urbanization had an indirect positive effect on pollination services through its effects not only on flower visitation rate but also on community-weighted mean body size and its variation. We discuss the eco-evolutionary implications of the effect of urbanization on body size, and the relevance of these findings for the key ecosystem service of pollination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Panagiotis Theodorou
- General ZoologyInstitute of BiologyMartin Luther University Halle‐WittenbergHalle (Saale)Germany
| | - Lucie M. Baltz
- General ZoologyInstitute of BiologyMartin Luther University Halle‐WittenbergHalle (Saale)Germany
| | - Robert J. Paxton
- General ZoologyInstitute of BiologyMartin Luther University Halle‐WittenbergHalle (Saale)Germany
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle‐Jena‐LeipzigLeipzigGermany
| | - Antonella Soro
- General ZoologyInstitute of BiologyMartin Luther University Halle‐WittenbergHalle (Saale)Germany
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Braschler B, Gilgado JD, Zwahlen V, Rusterholz HP, Buchholz S, Baur B. Ground-dwelling invertebrate diversity in domestic gardens along a rural-urban gradient: Landscape characteristics are more important than garden characteristics. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0240061. [PMID: 33007013 PMCID: PMC7531831 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0240061] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2020] [Accepted: 09/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Urbanisation is increasing worldwide and is regarded a major driver of environmental change altering local species assemblages. Private domestic gardens contribute a significant share of total green area in cities, but their biodiversity has received relatively little attention. Previous studies mainly considered plants, flying invertebrates such as bees and butterflies, and birds. By using a multi-taxa approach focused on less mobile, ground-dwelling invertebrates, we examined the influence of local garden characteristics and landscape characteristics on species richness and abundance of gastropods, spiders, millipedes, woodlice, ants, ground beetles and rove beetles. We assume that most of the species of these groups are able to complete their entire life cycle within a single garden. We conducted field surveys in thirty-five domestic gardens along a rural-urban gradient in Basel, Switzerland. Considered together, the gardens examined harboured an impressive species richness, with a mean share of species of the corresponding groups known for Switzerland of 13.9%, ranging from 4.7% in ground beetles to 23.3% in woodlice. The overall high biodiversity is a result of complementary contributions of gardens harbouring distinct species assemblages. Indeed, at the garden level, species richness of different taxonomical groups were typically not inter-correlated. The exception was ant species richness, which was correlated with those of gastropods and spiders. Generalised linear models revealed that distance to the city centre is an important driver of species richness, abundance and composition of several groups, resulting in an altered species composition in gardens in the centre of the city. Local garden characteristics were important drivers of gastropod and ant species richness, and the abundance of spiders, millipedes and rove beetles. Our study shows that domestic gardens make a valuable contribution to regional biodiversity. Thus, domestic urban gardens constitute an important part of green infrastructure, which should be considered by urban planners.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brigitte Braschler
- Section of Conservation Biology, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
- * E-mail:
| | - José D. Gilgado
- Section of Conservation Biology, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Valerie Zwahlen
- Section of Conservation Biology, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Hans-Peter Rusterholz
- Section of Conservation Biology, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Sascha Buchholz
- Department of Ecology, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), Berlin, Germany
| | - Bruno Baur
- Section of Conservation Biology, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
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Geffroy B, Sadoul B, Putman BJ, Berger-Tal O, Garamszegi LZ, Møller AP, Blumstein DT. Evolutionary dynamics in the Anthropocene: Life history and intensity of human contact shape antipredator responses. PLoS Biol 2020; 18:e3000818. [PMID: 32960897 PMCID: PMC7508406 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000818] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2020] [Accepted: 08/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans profoundly impact landscapes, ecosystems, and animal behavior. In many cases, animals living near humans become tolerant of them and reduce antipredator responses. Yet, we still lack an understanding of the underlying evolutionary dynamics behind these shifts in traits that affect animal survival. Here, we used a phylogenetic meta-analysis to determine how the mean and variability in antipredator responses change as a function of the number of generations spent in contact with humans under 3 different contexts: urbanization, captivity, and domestication. We found that any contact with humans leads to a rapid reduction in mean antipredator responses as expected. Notably, the variance among individuals over time observed a short-term increase followed by a gradual decrease, significant for domesticated animals. This implies that intense human contact immediately releases animals from predation pressure and then imposes strong anthropogenic selection on traits. In addition, our results reveal that the loss of antipredator traits due to urbanization is similar to that of domestication but occurs 3 times more slowly. Furthermore, the rapid disappearance of antipredator traits was associated with 2 main life-history traits: foraging guild and whether the species was solitary or gregarious (i.e., group-living). For domesticated animals, this decrease in antipredator behavior was stronger for herbivores than for omnivores or carnivores and for solitary than for gregarious species. By contrast, the decrease in antipredator traits was stronger for gregarious, urbanized species, although this result is based mostly on birds. Our study offers 2 major insights on evolution in the Anthropocene: (1) changes in traits occur rapidly even under unintentional human “interventions” (i.e., urbanization) and (2) there are similarities between the selection pressures exerted by domestication and by urbanization. In all, such changes could affect animal survival in a predator-rich world, but through understanding evolutionary dynamics, we can better predict when and how exposure to humans modify these fitness-related traits. This study reveals that the evolutionary dynamics of antipredator responses of urbanized animals are similar to those of domestication but at a rate 3 times slower. Hence, contact with humans has profound impacts on the capacity of populations to respond to predation. Both foraging guilds and social level of species have an impact on the speed of the decrease of fear-related traits over time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Geffroy
- MARBEC, Univ Montpellier, Ifremer, IRD, CNRS, Palavas-Les-Flots, France
- * E-mail:
| | - Bastien Sadoul
- MARBEC, Univ Montpellier, Ifremer, IRD, CNRS, Palavas-Les-Flots, France
| | - Breanna J. Putman
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
- Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Department of Herpetology and Urban Nature Research Center, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
| | - Oded Berger-Tal
- Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
| | - László Zsolt Garamszegi
- Centre for Ecological Research, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Vácrátót, Hungary
- MTA-ELTE, Theoretical Biology and Evolutionary Ecology Research Group, Department of Plant Systematics, Ecology and Theoretical Biology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Anders Pape Møller
- Laboratoire d’Ecologie, Systematique et Evolution, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Universite Paris-Sud, France
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Daniel T. Blumstein
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
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Butterfly species’ responses to urbanization: differing effects of human population density and built-up area. Urban Ecosyst 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s11252-020-01055-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
AbstractGood knowledge on how increasing urbanization affects biodiversity is essential in order to preserve biodiversity in urban green spaces. We examined how urban development affects species richness and total abundance of butterflies as well as the occurrence and abundance of individual species within the Helsinki metropolitan area in Northern Europe. Repeated butterfly counts in 167 separate 1-km-long transects within Helsinki covered the entire urbanization gradient, quantified by human population density and the proportion of built-up area (within a 50-m buffer surrounding each butterfly transect). We found consistently negative effects of both human population density and built-up area on all studied butterfly variables, though butterflies responded markedly more negatively to increasing human population density than to built-up area. Responses in butterfly species richness and total abundance showed higher variability in relation to proportion of built-up area than to human density, especially in areas of high human density. Increasing human density negatively affected both the abundance and the occurrence of 47% of the 19 most abundant species, whereas, for the proportion of built-up area, the corresponding percentages were 32% and 32%, respectively. Species with high habitat specificity and low mobility showed higher sensitivity to urbanization (especially high human population density) than habitat generalists and mobile species that dominated the urban butterfly communities. Our results suggest that human population density provides a better indicator of urbanization effects on butterflies compared to the proportion of built-up area. The generality of this finding should be verified in other contexts and taxonomic groups.
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Xie S, Wang X, Ren Y, Su Z, Su Y, Wang S, Zhou W, Lu F, Qian Y, Gong C, Huang B, Ouyang Z. Factors responsible for forest and water bird distributions in rivers and lakes along an urban gradient in Beijing. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2020; 735:139308. [PMID: 32492564 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139308] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/24/2019] [Revised: 03/11/2020] [Accepted: 05/07/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Urban rivers and lakes, in combination with nearby green spaces, provide important habitat for urban birds, but few urban studies have focused on forest and water birds simultaneously along an urban intensity gradient. In this study, we randomly chose 39 rivers and lakes along an urban gradient of Beijing to examine bird community parameters in relation to aquatic and terrestrial habitat conditions, aquatic life data, and water quality data. We selected models with the AICc (corrected Akaike information criterion) method, bivariate linear or generalized linear regressions, and structural equation modeling to determine distribution patterns of avian communities along an urban gradient and bird-environment relationships. We found that both forest and water bird species and individuals peaked at intermediate urbanization intensities, especially for abundance of both forest and water bird and water bird species richness and abundance. We suggest that the differences in the strength of response to urbanization and the similarities in the gradient distribution pattern between forest and water birds should receive more attention in future urbanization gradient studies. Significant correlation ship between species richness of resident water birds, fish foragers, and insectivore-frugivores, abundance of insectivores, insectivore-frugivores (negative), and granivores (positive) and impervious surface proportion within 1-km radius buffer of sampled sites became more evident after coverage of artificial surfaces exceeded a 50% threshold. Regressions showed that distance from the urban center, number of islands in waterbody, and proportion of gross or unarmored shoreline length were significantly and positively related to species richness and abundance of both forest and water birds. The availability of unarmored shoreline is a critical pathway through which urbanization detrimentally impacts avian diversity. Our results demonstrate how the urban intensity gradient affects the relative availability of food resources and habitat, which could provide practical applications for urban landscape planning and avian biodiversity conservation in urban areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shilin Xie
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049,China
| | - Xiaoke Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049,China; Beijing Urban Ecosystem Research Station, Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
| | - Yufen Ren
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049,China; Beijing Urban Ecosystem Research Station, Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
| | - Zhimin Su
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049,China; Beijing Urban Ecosystem Research Station, Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
| | - Yuebo Su
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049,China
| | - Siqi Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049,China; Beijing Urban Ecosystem Research Station, Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
| | - Weiqi Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049,China; Beijing Urban Ecosystem Research Station, Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
| | - Fei Lu
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049,China; Beijing Urban Ecosystem Research Station, Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
| | - Yuguo Qian
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049,China
| | - Cheng Gong
- School of Life Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China; State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049,China
| | - Binbin Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049,China
| | - Zhiyun Ouyang
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049,China.
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Escobar-Ibáñez JF, Rueda-Hernández R, MacGregor-Fors I. The Greener the Better! Avian Communities Across a Neotropical Gradient of Urbanization Density. Front Ecol Evol 2020. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2020.500791] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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46
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Kondratyeva A, Knapp S, Durka W, Kühn I, Vallet J, Machon N, Martin G, Motard E, Grandcolas P, Pavoine S. Urbanization Effects on Biodiversity Revealed by a Two-Scale Analysis of Species Functional Uniqueness vs. Redundancy. Front Ecol Evol 2020. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2020.00073] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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Carrasco-Harris MF, Bowman D, Reichling S, Cole JA. Spatial ecology of copperhead snakes (Agkistrodon contortrix) in response to urban park trails. JOURNAL OF URBAN ECOLOGY 2020. [DOI: 10.1093/jue/juaa007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Urban forests and parks are important for recreation and may serve as a natural corridor for commuters. The consequences of human-mediated disturbance in natural areas are documented for avian and mammalian species. Less is known about the consequences of human disturbance on reptile species, specifically snakes, residing in natural refuges within the urban matrix. Thus, we examined the spatial activity of copperheads (Agkistrodon contortrix) in regard to pedestrian trails within an urban forest. We used radio telemetry to track snakes during the active season and estimated distances moved in between relocations, distances to the nearest trail and home range size for individuals. We found sex and season, but not distance to the nearest trail, affected the distance snakes moved. In addition, we observed a weak, positive relationship between home range size and average distance to the trail. Sex, season and body condition did not explain snake distance to the trail, but individual patterns were variable for snakes compared to random locations generated from snake relocations. Our study indicates copperheads may be tolerant of low-level human disturbances found in an urban forest. Further work should be done to quantify levels of disturbance, such as trail use, and compare the behavior of reptiles across urban park types and locations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Malle F Carrasco-Harris
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Memphis, 239 Ellington Hall, 3700 Walker Avenue, Memphis, TN 38152, USA
| | - Dale Bowman
- Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Memphis, 373 Dunn Hall, 3725 Norriswood Ave, Memphis, TN 38152, USA
| | | | - Judith A Cole
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Memphis, 239 Ellington Hall, 3700 Walker Avenue, Memphis, TN 38152, USA
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